1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an assist grip to be attached to a sealing surface or the like in an automobile cabin, and more particularly, to an assist grip a grip body of which is rotatably fixed to a to-be-fixed portion in an automobile via a hinge portion.
2. Description of Related Art
To a sealing surface in an automobile cabin, an assist grip is attached to allow a passenger to support his/her body in the cabin. As assist grips of this type, ones having such a structure that recess portions are formed at both sides of a grip body, a hinge portion is rotatably attached in the recess portion, and the grip body is rotatably mounted via the hinge portion have been mounted on various automobiles.
On the hinge portion of an assist grip of this type, as described in, for example, Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2005-138823 A, a torsion coil spring for urging around a hinge shaft thereof is mounted so as to, by a spring force of the torsion coil spring, urge the grip body to an unused position against the hinge portion.
The torsion coil spring to be mounted on the hinge portion is usually arranged between a pair of support pieces provided in a projecting manner on a lower portion of the hinge portion, and is mounted in a space between the support pieces, with one end of the spring being engaged with the hinge portion, and the other end of the spring being engaged with the grip body.
The torsion coil spring, at the time of assembly, while urging the grip body up to the unused position against the hinge portion, is to be attached between a pair of support pieces on the lower portion of the hinge portion, however, the torsion coil spring needs to be oriented in a predetermined direction as its direction and mounted being urged in a torsional state, and thus a work for mounting a small-sized torsion coil spring into such a configuration by hand is troublesome and difficult work.
Moreover, the space between the support pieces of the hinge portion in the hinge recess portion of the grip body is large as compared to an external shape of the torsion coil spring, and a considerable clearance is interposed around the spring. Therefore, the torsion coil spring inserted between the support pieces is likely to be mounted obliquely shifted from an axis center position of the hinge shaft in terms of a mounted state thereof.
Therefore, when the torsion coil spring is attached in an inclined manner between the pair of support pieces of the hinge portion, it is difficult to impart a constant torsional torque to the hinge portion in a torsional direction thereof, and rotational torque between the hinge portion and the grip body by the torsion coil spring fluctuates for every product, so that it becomes difficult to manage the rotational torque of the hinge portion at a previously set constant value.
In addition, there has been a problem such that, when the torsion coil spring is attached with its axis obliquely shifted with respect to the hinge shaft of the hinge portion on which the torsion coil spring is mounted, noise is likely to occur due to friction between coil wires or due to friction between the torsion coil spring and a wall surface of the hinge recess portion of the grip body when the grip body is operated to rotate with respect to the hinge portion.